Virtual Reality Gets Two Emmy Nods

VR is getting a new wave of acknowledgement and making it’s way mainstream with an Emmy being awarded to two virtual reality experiences.

User Experience and Visual Design

In the category of “User Experience and Visual Design,” FOX’s Sleepy Hollow Virtual Reality Experience took home the creative arts Emmy award. The VR experience was co-produced by FOX Television and Toronto-based Secret Location.

The Sleepy Hollow Virtual Reality Experience was created as an extension to the FOX Television show and built as an installation during San Diego Comic-Con to giver users a unique and frightening live experience. The experience was designed with a combination of live-action footage shot with the show’s stars and rendered virtual environments. At the end of the experience, fans could get their picture taken and viewed on a poster with there chopped off heads.

Most recently, Secret Location has also been showing off their VAN Beethoven experience around Los Angeles in collaboration with the LA Philharmonic.

You can download the Sleepy Hollow experience on Oculus Share if you have a Oculus Rift DK2.

Original Interactive Program

The second virtual reality Emmy nod went to the AMEX Unstaged: Taylor Swift Experience app created by American Express, RadicalMedia, and VR studio IM360. The Swift app experience is more 360-degree video than virtual reality, but is based on the singer’s hit music video Blank Space. Created and designed for viewing on a tablet or smartphone, the user can walk around in the musical video and follow Swift to look for hidden clues.

Last month IM360 partnered with MTV to give music fans an opportunity to watch the Video Music Awards red carpet live in virtual reality.